A Handful of New Writing Books for Fall 2016

Being a book buyer has its advantages: I get to see all the new books coming out. And here are a shiny few new writing books for fall 2016 I have picked out from the heaps of catalogues.

The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting by Anne Trubek

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I love letter writing. I have taken part in LetterMo for a few years and still correspond with several people from it. Some of my best friends who live in other cities, we correspond with long form letters in addition to shooting messages off on the various social media platforms we have in common.

This book is about handwriting, of course. Trubek claims evolution beyond handwriting is not a signal for the decline in civilization, but hails the future of communication. I will cling to my pens as I read it, though, because handwriting notes is the only way I truly learn and remember things.

Take a look at it on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or Goodreads.

Why Write?: A Master Class on the Art of Writing and Why it Matters by Mark Edmundson

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There are a lot of times I look at all the books that are coming out, inundating the world with quick reads and fast stories, and wonder why I write. Writing is mentally and physically taxing and others seem to be able to produce entertaining tales with little effort. Should I try less hard?

The blurb on this book alone gives me hope. Especially this:

Why write when it sometimes feels that so few people really read-read as if their lives might be changed by what they’re reading? Why write, when the world wants to be informed, not enlightened; to be entertained, not inspired? Writing is backbreaking, mindbreaking, lonely work. So why?

Because writing, as celebrated professor Mark Edmundson explains, is one of the greatest human goods. Real writing can do what critic R. P. Blackmur said it could: add to the stock of available reality.

Check it out on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or Goodreads.

Words on the Move: Why English Won’t – and Can’t – Sit Still (Like, Literally) by John McWhorter

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This book is about how languages change–and usually infuriate people in the process. whether it is using literally to mean figuratively *insert personal twitch here* or chatspeak taking over the world, it just keeps changing. Pretty much just as the blurb says, this book “encourages us to marvel at the dynamism and resilience of the English language, and offers a lively journey through which we discover that words are ever on the move and our lives are all the richer for it.”

Browse it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or Goodreads.

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